If you live anywhere in the US, chances are that you have a product in your home right now that came through the Port of Los Angeles. The largest port in the Western hemisphere handles about a quarter of all cargo distributed throughout the country—about $1 billion a day. Now LA is working to make it the most…»3/17/15 2:40pm 3/17/15 2:40pm

You've probably read about it, even if it didn't really register. Something about a backlog. Something about unions. Imports and exports. Now the dispute that's paralyzing 29 ports on the U.S. West Coast has the potential to affect all of us—and to empty the shelves in countless stores. »2/19/15 5:00pm 2/19/15 5:00pm

If you are a human who is both lazy and inconsiderate, you've found comfort these past few years in Amazon's last-minute free overnight shipping selections. Bad news, fellow sloth. While that offer had been on the table up until early this morning, it's over on the day you need it most. Humbug! »12/23/14 9:08am 12/23/14 9:08am

Imagine you're in the middle of the Pacific ocean. Behind you is China, below you are thousands of tons of consumer goods destined for faraway ports, then stores, then maybe a spot beneath a Christmas tree. You are part of a vast economy that supplies the things we buy—a galaxy of cities, systems, and people that is…»12/10/14 2:05pm 12/10/14 2:05pm

In order to keep up with the frenetic growth of global shipping traffic—which has quadrupled over the past two decades alone—commercial cargo ships keep getting bigger. And the newest king of the containerships isn't one of Maersk's EEE titans, it's the CSCL Globe.»11/20/14 11:40am 11/20/14 11:40am

Over the past decade Amazon has developed an incredible infrastructure of warehouses and fulfillment centers dedicated to delivering your toilet paper and books within hours. For customers, these spaces are invisible, rarely thought about or even seen. But a new map reveals exactly where they are—and how quickly… »9/26/14 3:15pm 9/26/14 3:15pm

One hundred years ago today, the SS Ancon became the first ship to officially pass through the Panama Canal. Because of the outbreak of World War I, there wasn't a big party for the grand opening. The waterway would go on change the history of transportation, and now it's time to change the canal itself. »8/15/14 4:00pm 8/15/14 4:00pm

On the quaint coast of Cornwall, near the town of Perranporth, there's a beach that's constantly covered in Lego. Tiny flippers, little plastic dragons, a brick here and there—these pieces have been washing ashore since a shipping accident in 1997 sent 4.8 million pieces into the sea nearby. And one-by-one, out they… »7/21/14 10:48am 7/21/14 10:48am

Nine billion tons of things you buy get to your hands via trucks. Most structures are put up by cranes and bulldozers. All those vehicles run on diesel, and at the Pearl Plant in Qatar, Shell is cooking up an alternative fuel that could drop directly in those engines, making them immediately more efficient and more… »7/08/14 2:17pm 7/08/14 2:17pm

It's a problem as old as sailing itself. Ever since man set out sea, barnacles have been clinging like, well, barnacles to ships, growing into bumpy masses that slows down vessels and wastes fuel. Could the solution to this age-old dilemma be a new coat of special paint? It's not as simple as it sounds. »5/07/14 3:40pm 5/07/14 3:40pm

The noises made by the gargantuan boats that move our stuff from one continent to another are ruining marine life. So, this week, new regulations have been issued by the International Maritime Organization, the sea-faring agency of the United Nations, asking shipping companies to turn down the volume. »4/07/14 4:00pm 4/07/14 4:00pm

Just how many large mysterious objects can there be floating at sea? That's what many of us have wondered after the search for debris from Malaysia Airlines 370 turned up piece after piece of ocean trash. The search for flight 370 has focused our attention on empty patches of ocean and, in the process, shed light on… »4/02/14 1:40pm 4/02/14 1:40pm

The global shipping industry has completely transformed our world: Today, 90 percent of everything in your life arrives via cargo ship. These two maps prove just how dramatically international trade has increased, by comparing the oceans of the 19th century with those of the late 20th. »4/02/14 10:40am 4/02/14 10:40am